The Final Maze
by crystalslens
Summary: **Contains SPOILERS for Maze Runner: The Death Cure** Newt has the Flare, and he's dying. He finds out what, and who, is waiting for him beyond this world.
1. Chapter 1

**Part One**

Newt felt waves of fiery air drying the trails of black blood tracing downwards from his lips. He smelled the blood; it was all he could taste. And it was his own.

Newt's hands found the necklace tied around his throat. He ripped it off forcefully and shoved it at Thomas, who was crouched in front of him. Thomas's face was indescribable, and Newt's heart wrenched at the thought that they would soon be separated forever.

"Newt, come on, we gotta go!" yelled Thomas.

"No! Take it. Take it!" He screamed. He struggled for another breath, barely finding one. The blood was in his throat, in his lungs. He gasped desperately. "Please. Please, Tommy... please." The words were barely a whisper. He knew the necklace and its contents would soon be all that was left of him, the real him.

"Okay... okay." Thomas held Newt's hand, then took the necklace from it. He looked out of the alley at the burning street, then back at his dying friend. Newt's eyes were black, and the veins that had begun to trace his skin only hours ago had grown darker. He snarled at something only he could see. Thomas set his jaw, quickly calculating. "Newt, we're gonna go, you gotta give me everything you got! Let's go!"

Thomas slung Newt's arm across his broad shoulders, heaved him upright, and began to drag him across what was left of the street. They were headed in the direction of the tunnels, of the berg that could take them away, of Minho and Gally and Brenda.

Of the serum.

Newt's legs felt stiff; his left foot dragged behind him while he did what he could to help Thomas haul his shuddering body forward, forward.

Newt collapsed.

He barely heard Thomas screaming his name as he faded into darkness...


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

Newt listlessly became aware that he was standing. He saw Thomas, whose back was to him. At the sound of his ragged breathing, Thomas turned.

"Newt...?"

The tall lanky body belonged to his friend, but something dark glared at him from behind Newt's eyes. The crank's mouth uttered a jarring scream as he lunged at Thomas, black eyes gleaming. The two boys wrestled, but Newt's overtaken body was strengthened from the violent urges of the virus, and he pinned Thomas to the ground.

With a snarl Newt forced himself into his own mind; for one desperate moment, he was clear.

He glanced downwards.

For the second time in his life, he saw a way out, and he was more determined than ever to take it.

"I'm sorry, Tommy."

"It's okay... it's okay," whispered Thomas.

At the same time, Newt reached down and took hold of the gun at Thomas's waist, thrust the barrel to the side of his skull and pulled the trigger... but Thomas, still holding desperately onto the hope of saving his best friend, managed to knock it away before the irreparable damage could be done. "NO!"

Newt screamed in frustration. He wanted it all to end. He needed it to end. The thing that scared him the most was happening. He lost control as he slipped off into madness once again, unable to force away the urge to bite, to kill, to taste the fresh blood that was pounding through the body of the boy in front of him.

Thomas was pleading with him to hold on for one more minute, just one more, but Newt could not make sense of the words. His hand went to his belt; he pulled out a dagger that was sheathed there. Gurgling and screeching, he slashed at Thomas. Newt's mouth was open wide, his bloodstained teeth shining in the glare of the fires; his blond hair was bedraggled and soaked with sweat. His strong arms prevailed against Thomas's as he slowly drove the knife down towards his chest. Thomas yelled out as the point began to slice through his skin. With Newt's arms occupied, Thomas forced him off and managed to stagger upright.

They faced off. Newt slashed at Thomas doggedly, but Thomas was able to evade the strikes and throw Newt to the ground. Newt surged upright again and leaped at Thomas, colliding with his friend's body. The terrifying sound of blade piercing flesh rang strangely deafening in their ears. They held onto each other for one moment, as if in an embrace.

Thomas took a half step back. His face cemented in horrified shock at the sight of the knife driven to the hilt through Newt's once-pulsing chest.

Their eyes met.

"Tommy…"

They fell together to the cement.

Newt didn't blink. His eyes ceased to register the chaos around him. He only saw Thomas leaning in close to him, holding him, as his last breath hung still in his lungs...


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

Awareness came slowly, slowly.

Everything was dark.

A cool, rough surface beneath fingertips.

The fingers moved, then the hands, the toes and feet.

Newt bent one knee until his foot was flat on the surface. Then the other.

He sat up.

 _Where the bloody hell...?_

Memories. They flooded into his brain, and he brought his hands to his face and cried. He remembered everything, so clearly. Before the maze, and after. His parents. His sister. How he'd been studied, tortured, sent to the maze. The maze. All the years spent there trying to find a way out. And finding it, with his friends.

Minho.

Winston.

Frypan.

 _Thomas._

His shoulders shook with the weight of what his life had been, the people he'd lost, and with the circumstances of his death, for he understood he _was_ dead.

 _What now?_

He raised his head, carefully looked around until his eyes registered a dull glow. Drying his face with his hands, he resolved to remain resilient. His whole life, he had been. He rose and cautiously headed in the direction of the light...


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four**

Dark shapes began to fill the lighted space, the source was somewhere beyond.

Newt's mouth hung slack in disbelief as the shapes became solid forms.

Alby.

Ben.

Chuck.

Winston.

Lizzy.

Even his parents had waited there, waited for their son to arrive, and hoped it wouldn't be this soon.

None of them said a word as they gathered in to surround Newt, hugging him tightly, knowing, assuring.

When he was ready, they gave him space.

"Hey, Newt," said Alby gently. "You're through the final maze, brother."


	5. Chapter 5

1

 **Part Five – 52 Years Later**

"Hey guys? I think this is him," Chuck called tentatively, a hint of excitement in his voice. Newt looked up from the bulb he was burying in the soil. He joined Chuck, Minho, and Gally at the entrance. They waited.

Though he had spent much longer in the world than most of them, when Thomas's form materialized out of the darkness he looked like the same young man they had followed to the ends of the earth all that time ago. He smiled at the sight of them, waiting for him there.

"Tommy."

Newt, then Minho ran forward and embraced their friend. Gally and Chuck were close behind. "Hey, Greenie," said Gally.

"I can't believe you shanks are here," Thomas managed to utter. "Wherever 'here' is."

"Well, you know Minho and Gally haven't had to hang here too long, but me and Chuck have spent bloody forever waiting for you." Newt paused. "The others—Winston and Alby. Vince, Jorge… Theresa—they'd decided to move on, bit by bit. In their own ways." Thomas nodded soberly. "You'll come to understand this place, this 'beyond', in time. Just know you're safe. The part of us that lives on is safe here. No more running or fighting. No more mazes. When you're ready, you simply walk on."

Thomas looked at the ground, then back at his friends. "I'd like to wait for Brenda and Fry, if I can."

"Of course, mate," answered Newt. "We're with you."

They all turned and watched as the light faded from the lilac sky, brothers united together once more.


End file.
